Integrated circuits (ICs) are continuously designed to consume less power. One of the driving factors for reducing power consumption is that many of these integrated circuits are being used in portable devices. Portable devices are usually powered by limited power sources, such as batteries. The time for operating these devices on a continuous basis is based on the capacity of the batteries used and the power consumption of the devices. In order to further prolong the time for continuously use of such portable devices, these devices are continuously being designed to consume power more efficiently.
Another consideration with respect to integrated circuits is the performance of circuits at various regions of an IC chip. Generally, due to process variations, circuits at various regions of an IC chip may perform at different levels of performance, even if the circuits are similarly designed. Additionally, due to temperature variations across integrated circuits, similar circuits at various regions of an IC chip may also perform at different levels of performance.
The performance of circuits in an integrated circuit is typically affected by the voltage supplied to the circuits. In order to reduce the power consumption of integrated circuits, the voltage supplied to the circuits in an integrated circuit may be lowered. However, the voltage should not be lowered below a level that would cause one or more of the circuits to perform below a specified level. In other words, the voltage should not be lowered below a level that would cause the worst case performing circuit to perform below a specified level.
Thus, there is a need for a technique of monitoring a performance of a circuit, and control (e.g., reduce) the voltage supplied to the circuit to achieve a desired tradeoff between power consumption and performance.